Goode Enough
by GetInLoserWereGoingSinning
Summary: "Look Annabeth, I know high school is boring, but at least you're going to my school now, isn't that Goode enough?" -Percy, probably. (Cover by the lovely brunagonda on tumblr)
1. Chapter 1

**So it turns out the one thing that gets me writing and actually putting effort into it is feminism and overused tropes.**

 **Let's see if I keep updating, however.**

 **Also, the timeline here? I have no clue. When in the books? IDK man it just sort of is happening. I'm just writing this because it seems like all the "Annabeth goes to Goode" fanfics are the exact same and kind of misogynistic. Hopefully this will switch things up a bit.**

When Annabeth Chase first set her right foot on the steps up to Goode High, she was wearing a pair of combat boots. It wasn't like she was going into combat or anything, but she liked them. The combat boots went with her high waisted shorts and grey short sleeved shirt tucked tightly into her shorts. It was one of her power outfits, the outfits she wore when she needed a confidence boost. She pulled her chapstick from her pocket and nervously reapplied it before putting her hands on her backpack straps to metaphorically pull herself up by her bootstraps. Her other boot edged onto the step and she decided that the time wasting to avoid going into school had to stop.

She lifted her chin and started taking longer steps. At 6'3, Percy was still taller than her, but she wasn't so short herself at 5'10. Leo had once jokingly called her an Amazonian goddess when he noticed exactly how much taller she was than him. She did her "I deserve to be here as much as you" walk all the way into the school, then when she realized she accidentally walked right past the office pulled out her phone and coolly redirected as she acted like she got a text telling her to go somewhere, hoping no one noticed that awkward little moment.

After yet another fight with her stepmother, Annabeth had kissed her little halfbrothers goodbye, promising to make Percy Iris-message them with more cool adventure stories. She headed back to camp, where after a few weeks of boredom one of the Aphrodite kids finally suggested to enroll in a school. She was about 99% sure it was because their mother had told them to, but either way Annabeth was now standing in Percy's school waiting to receive her schedule.

The receptionist, a woman with strawberry blonde hair and a thin nose, gave her a smile as she handed Annabeth the packet filled with stuff she would need.

"Need anyone to show you around?" She asked.

Annabeth shook her head. She planned on just finding Percy, and if that failed, she knew where Paul's class was and could ask him for a tour guide or Percy. "Nah, I know someone here. He can show me around."

"Really? I pride myself on knowing every student in this school. What's his name? Maybe I can direct you to him." The receptionist replied.

"Um, Percy." Annabeth said. Hopefully the receptionist wouldn't page Percy or something. Annabeth sorta wanted a more dramatic arrival announcement.

"Jackson?"

"Yes." Annabeth was mildly impressed. The school looked pretty big.

"He's a sweetie." Annabeth filed that comment away to tease Percy with somehow later. "On the swim team, nice boy. I see him hanging out with his friends in locker block B."

Annabeth's locker was in D. D for Disappointing, maybe.

"Thanks!" She said anyway, heading out. If she powerwalked she could probably get to her locker and at least take a walk-by of block B. She studied the map for a second before heading out. She decided to rely on her knowledge of architecture to lead her around the logical wing placements.

A boy with dark brown hair and crystal blue eyes walked past, arguing with a girl who had hair dyed bright red and wearing a miniskirt. A girl in a white dress ran past after a fried who was giggling madly. Annabeth searched the halls for someone she vaguely recognized, even from her visits to Percy and Paul. A boy in a wheelchair rolled past arguing with another boy wearing a beanie, and Annabeth continued to recognize absolutely no one.

She eventually arrived at block D and quickly found her locker. She checked her combination twice and then ran it through the lock, opening it in record time. At her old school, she prided herself on being the best and fastest with the school's finicky old locks. She could help anyone out of a lock jam, be it entering their code quickly and accurately when they didn't have time, or just being able to aim a pretty good kick to unjam the closing mechanism.

She dumped the school supplies she bought into her locker and squinted at her schedule to unscramble it. She eventually figured out her first class was English. Not too hard, but with dyslexia, not too easy either. She kept her English notebook with her and looked at the clock on the wall. She had some time, and if she caught Percy and they were late they would have the excuse of "showing the new girl around."

She went straight for the B wing and when she arrived, it was sort of a surprising sight. Kids milled around talking to friends, but a fair few had their eyes trained on Percy and a pretty large group of friends surrounding them. She knew Percy was a friendly guy, but he looked like he was actually pretty popular here, not just the guy who sat in the back of class and was friends with almost everyone, like he had been at his other schools.

She paused a moment near a locker that no one was at to consider her options with announcing herself, but then a guy came up behind her.

"'Scuse me, you're in front of my locker?" He said to her.

"Sorry." She replied, and stepped out further into the center of the hall. Percy saw her and sort of squinted a bit at her to get a better look from through the crowd. Annabeth walked forward until she was just behind one of his friends in front of him.

"Annabeth?!" Percy exclaimed.

"Um, surprise?" Annabeth gave him a sheepish grin. Percy walked forward past his friend (who was midsentence. Annabeth had to make a mental note to talk to him about being rude.)

"What are you doing here?" His friends and the kids watching in the hall also stared at her.

"I sort of transferred here." She said. What was with her? Where were her snappy remarks at him? She couldn't honestly be nervous to be the new girl, right? "Didn't you miss me?"

"Like hell." Percy said in a lower voice. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to kiss her.

 **So. Chapter one. Stuff happened. Next chapter more stuff will happen. At some point I'm going to be subversing some tropes.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Maybe I'm starting this fic off with 2 chapters so if I never update again my basic hope for this fic will have been achieved. Maybe.**

"Woah, Percy, before you kiss this random girl who just shows up, who is she?"

Percy pulls away (dammit) but still keeps his arm around her waist and runs his hand through the front of his hair. Annabeth mentally applauds whatever caused him to develop that glorious habit. He gives a crooked grin to the latino boy what said that and says "Sorry guys, this is my girlfriend, Annabeth. Apparently she just transferred here."

"Wait, so you mean to tell me you had a girlfriend all along and never told us? Dude, we were trying to play matchmaker love god over here!" It's a girl with tawny skin who says this.

Annabeth and Percy exchange a small grin at her saying love god. They didn't need any more 'love gods' messing around in their relationship. "Well Kristina, if you had just asked if I had a girlfriend before trying to set me up with some random person, maybe you would have known." He replied. Kristina looked about to reply before turning and seeing someone round the corner. The words died on her lips.

"Oh no, it's Kristina's biggest girlcrush!" A girl with white blonde hair smirked.

"Aw, Nova, you know you're my biggest girlcrush." Kristina turned and pecked the white blonde who accepted it with a small smile and rested her head on her shoulder.

A girl rounded the corner Kristina had been looking at. Annabeth had to congratulate how absolutely put together she was. She wore a cheerleader's uniform in the school colors of red, black, and white, and she stuck to those colors.

She had black winged eyeliner and red lipstick, and in general her makeup was at the level of making the Aphrodite cabin shed a tear of pride. Her shoes were spotlessly white tennis shoes and her fingernails were painted red on hands that swung way lower than the tight skirt hem of her uniform, and on the back of her uniform the name Charlotte was stitched in cursive.

So her name was Charlotte, Annabeth figured.

Charlotte had sandy blonde hair pulled into a tight high ponytail and brown cat shaped eyes. She had high cheekbones, a wide face, and her lower lip was thicker than her upper lip, making her look pouty. Her nose was upturned, and while she wasn't the most flawless person in the entire world, there was a beauty around her, like those supermodels who you think look good but have no idea why. She sort of reminded Annabeth of those china dolls her paternal grandmother always bought her as birthday presents, the ones she wasn't actually allowed to touch or play with, because they were the pretty fancy dolls that could be broken very easily.

She stopped next to Percy and his friends. She took in Percy's hand around Annabeth's waist and smiled at him.

"Percy!" She exclaimed with a bright smile. "So nice to see you again after the summer. Listen, so I'm cheer captain this year," She paused for the congratulations Percy gave her. "Thanks. And I was talking to the girls and the coach, and we were wondering if maybe the swim team needed cheering or something, and when your first meet would be? We are award winning, and the football team doesn't appreciate us or have games enough for us."

Annabeth had to admit Charlotte's flirting was pretty flawless. Reasonable reason to talk to him, good tone of voice, just the right amount of eye contact, head tilted at perfect angle, occasional looking through eyelashes; this girl had it down.

Too bad for her Percy was just so incredibly clueless. Annabeth had tried the whole flirting thing too until she realized that Percy was not going to get it. She got bold and was now his girlfriend. She dully noticed how as his girlfriend, she should be getting jealous or something about Charlotte's flirting, but that wasn't very mature. She trusted Percy not to cheat, and besides, it didn't look like Charlotte's attempted were going anywhere.

"I guess you guys can come cheer if you want." Percy shrugged. "The swimmers might be a little busy though." He gave Charlotte a smile in return.

"Alright. And hey, who's the lovely lady next to you? Percy, don't be rude." She lightly hit him in the chest. Another point to good flirting. "Introduce us!"

"Oh, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend." He kissed Annabeth's cheek.

When Charlotte turned to look at Annabeth, her smile wavered just the tiniest bit. Ouch, the feeling of a crush being discovered as unavailable. But then her smile returned full force, like she hadn't ever stumbled.

"Welcome to Goode, then, Annabeth. I love your hair!"She said happily.

"Thanks." Annabeth replied. "You look very put-together and coordinated. It's pretty impressive."

Charlotte let loose an easy giggle. "I try. I'm a bit of a perfectionist." Annabeth could see that, since Charlotte's lipstick was the exact shade as her uniform. "Hey, if you need any help finding your way around the school or anything, ask me! I'm happy to help."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Annabeth returned Charlotte's smile.

 **Gasp! What's this? A girl who has a crush on Percy who isn't a horrible slut who wears bad makeup and is determined to ruin his and Annabeth's relationship? Blasphemy. Everyone knows girls with crushes are just horrid witches and if they dare wear makeup or a short skirt they're terrible, gross people.**

 **Basically I like high school fics but I'm also a feminist who hates this "The Other Girl" trope. It's so slut-shamey and horrid.**

 **So I offer Charlotte up as a good person who just happened to have a crush on a taken person, and she will not be a brat about it or try to make Annabeth's life hell. She'll just pack up and move on and not hold any grudges against Annabeth or Percy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**It's finally summer, so I figured maybe I'd toss you another chapter.**

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for Annabeth. She didn't have any classes with Percy, but the white-haired girl named Nova was in her 3D art elective, so she sat with her in there, and she did have lunch with Percy at least.

In every class, Annabeth had to go up to the front and introduce herself. It was truly the struggle of the new kid. She hated being up there, reciting that her name was Annabeth Chase, she moved here from San Francisco, and some irrelevant piece of information like how her favorite color was purple or something. The kids in the class always looked at her like they expected her to start tap dancing, or singing opera.

She met Percy outside the school, where he was talking to a few more friends that Annabeth hadn't even met.

"Hey Seaweed Brain." She greeted him. "Want to go do something?"

"Oh, um, sorry Wise girl, I told the swim team guys I'd go over for a guy's game night tonight yesterday, I can't." He replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's fine, you dork." Annabeth replied, smiling almost against her will. "I know you and your promises have to always be kept. Chill out."

Percy smiled back at her. "You're the best, Annabeth."

"Dude, your girlfriend isn't joining us for game night, right? That'd be so lame." One of Percy's friends interrupted them.

"No, she isn't, and you're lucky she isn't because she'd roast all your asses." Percy shot back, settling into the trashtalk guy friends shared.

"Percy, I don't even play video games." Annabeth told him.

"Well, I know that babe, but you're so great at everything it only makes sense that you'd be good at video games." Percy replied.

"Your logic is flawed, but your sentiment is appreciated."

Percy gave a devilish half grin. "Oh yeah, I love it when you talk nerdy to me."

Annabeth punched him.

"Okay, seriously," he said, not even letting the punch sway him. "You need to drop by my house sometime so I can train you to be my badass girlfriend who beats all my friends in video games. And speaking of which, where are you even staying?"

"Oh, in a hotel nearby." Annabeth said offhand.

"What?! Seriously? No, just stay with us! My mom probably loves you more than she loves me, she'd welcome you with open arms." Percy looked ready to beg.

"Perce, you know I can't do that. You don't even have a guest room for me to stay, and before you suggest I just share your room, I can't and won't based on the fact that my mother would make an attempt on your life, and your chronic messiness would drive me crazy." Percy deflated with every word Annabeth spoke.

"But-" He tried to poke a hole in her argument.

"Seriously Percy, it's fine. The hotel owner is my half sibling, and she says I can stay as long as I want."

"Okay... but that doesn't mean I won't tell my mom about you and hope that she makes you move in herself." Percy said.

"I guess I can't stop you there. Bye Seaweed Brain, I'm gonna go do all the homework the teachers assigned without even giving me a day to catch up." Annabeth started walking.

"Nerd, doing your homework as soon as you get home." Percy teased. He gave her a quick kiss before she went too far.

Annabeth gave him a wave as she walked away, letting it turn into a quick middle finger before she dropped it.

She had barely stepped off the curb in front of the school before someone appeared at her elbow.

"Hi there! Annabeth, right?" The cheerleader from this morning stood next to her bearing a massive grin.

"Hello Charlotte." Annabeth replied calmly.

"Whatcha up to on this fine day? Got any plans?" Charlotte asked.

"Not really. I was probably just going to do homework." Annabeth shrugged.

"Seriously? On a day like this, all alone? Come with me, I don't have practice today. Let's go grab a Starbucks and then we can go to my house and do our homework together or something, your schedule's in your binder and I can see that we have a few of the same teachers, just not the same periods." Charlotte was a fast talker, spitting out plans. Annabeth admired her observation skills to have noticed her schedule.

She was still a little wary of Charlotte, but then again, she was wary of everyone, and it would do some good for her to make a few friends, she reasoned. "Sure, where should we go? I don't exactly have every Starbucks in New York mentally mapped out."

"You really should." Charlotte giggled a bit. "Some people act all pretentious and say that Starbucks sucks and you should enjoy all the little coffee shops in the area that aren't Starbucks, with some reasoning like saying 'it's home made with love,' but that's just bull. The workers there are paid minimum wage just like Starbucks and don't care, and when you get your espresso, you're going to dump sugar and milk into it until it tastes just like Starbucks. Besides, I haven't yet found a little coffee shop that makes Java Chip frappes the way I like."

Annabeth struggled to process everything Charlotte managed to fit into the about thirty seconds she had been speaking. "Pretentious?"

"Oh, yeah, it's my current buzzword. It means-" Charlotte began.

"Oh, I know." Annabeth felt a little bad for cutting Charlotte off, but honestly she thought the girl could use a little bit of time to breathe. "It's just no one really uses it that often."

"Yeah, it just works so well with New York though." Charlotte rolled her eyes. "They're pretty pretentious sometimes."

"True," Annabeth admitted. "Lead the way to a java chip frappuccino, then."

"Alright!" Charlotte started to make a left, and Annabeth followed. "So tell me about yourself. Percy used to be a pretty well known assumed bachelor, I want to get to know the girl he stayed loyal to! He and you have to be pretty special, not many guys would be true. I know my ex-boyfriend wasn't."

"What, seriously? Some idiot cheated on you?" Annabeth was aghast.

"Yeah." Charlotte shook her head. "My parents and I went to Cancun last summer, and when I got back, I found out that Shaun had cheated on me. I guess maybe I should have seen it coming, he wore Sperries and Polo shirts with colored shorts, that's just total fuckboy material. I bet he says 'You'll be hearing from my father' too."

Annabeth laughed. "Why were you even dating him?"

Charlotte shook her head and made a sort of dismissing motion with one of her hands. "My dad is a total social climber, and the reason Shaun probably says you'll be hearing from his father is because his dad is some totally rich CEO of something or whatever. It made my dad happy that I was dating Shaun, and I guess I cared too much at the time."

Annabeth felt a little sorry for Charlotte. She seemed kind of lonely.

"Don't worry about it. Now, we've arrived at Starbucks." Charlotte pushed open the door. "What do you want? My treat." She pulled a shiny credit card from her purse. "And seriously, tell me about yourself? What's your favorite color? Subject? Month? Beyond those surface scratching small talk questions, how about something interesting? What are you most afraid of? Do you believe in aliens?"

Annabeth smiled at her. She kind of enjoyed hanging out with Charlotte.

 **Sooooooo... yeah. Female friendships are important to me. Anyway, sorry about the whole story move. I just didn't want this one story that I was actually proud and wanted to continue to be trapped on that old account with the crackfics I wrote when I was 9.**


	4. Chapter 4

"So, Annabeth, you seem like an interesting person and a great conversationalist." Said Charlotte after she had finally exhausted all her questions. "Why didn't Percy ever tell us about you?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Annabeth replied. "I can't claim Percy and I are so perfect together that I always understand him, but I guess it's just because we're private people. He might have mentioned me, but never drawn attention to the fact I was his girlfriend."

"Interesting. No offence or anything, but if that fine boy was my boyfriend, everyone would know. I'd probably wear a shirt announcing it or something." Charlotte giggled a bit.

"Yeah, I guess we're just secretive. I'm not sure why." Annabeth knew perfectly well why. "It's not really a big deal that we're dating, everyone who's known us for a while could see it coming since we were like, twelve."

"Wow, sounds romantic." Charlotte got a dreamy look in her eyes. "I admit, I'm a lonely heart and hopeless romantic rolled into one."

"Hey, the origin of the saying lonely heart came from people advertising themselves in the newspaper looking for someone to date. You could try that." Annabeth suggested, half-joking.

"Please. I'm not that desperate." Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Anyway, here's my apartment building."

They stood in front of a sleek building several stories high. Much of it was glass, and gold accents positively dripped from it. It was no feat of architecture, but it totally screamed luxury, and for native Californian Annabeth, who was used to small and short suburban houses on streets that had no trees and made her feel like a bug under a magnifying glass, it was still pretty impressive.

"Wow. Tall building." She remarked.

"Every building is tall in New York." Charlotte gave her an odd look.

"Well, I come from San Francisco, and even in the heart of the city you mostly only see brick houses that reach like, three stories max. Any tall buildings are all commercial use."

"Like, that's weird." Charlotte teased Annabeth by mimicking the slight valley girl accent she had.

"Aw, give me a break. I'm a teenage girl, let me use some filler speech." Annabeth had to laugh though. She usually avoided using filler speech around others, it sounded uneducated and the campers would tease a daughter of Athena talking like a Kardashian. Something about the genuine bubbly kindness from Charlotte made Annabeth relax a bit, enough to drop into the speech patterns that came so naturally.

"Thank you." Charlotte said to the doorman as he held open the doors for the girls to enter. Annabeth had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed them walking into the building, which was unlike her.

"I love the flower in your hair!" Charlotte exclaimed at a latina girl walking past.

"Thank you, I like your backpack." She returned. Charlotte's backpack was a pink polka dotted knapsack that had about a bajillion cute things dangling off it.

She turned to Annabeth. "I believe in complimenting people every day. It spreads a lot of happiness and confidence."

"That's the nicest thing I've heard all day. Are you just the sweetest person on the planet?" Annabeth genuinely wondered if there was anything to dislike about this girl.

"Oh no, it's sort of for selfish reasons. I'm really judgmental. For instance, every day that old balding receptionist lady wears that horrid orange lipstick and it always bleeds into her wrinkles. It drives me crazy." Annabeth located the receptionist with bad makeup. "I want to think positively though, so I never talk about it. Instead I compliment everyone on everything I do like as a way to force those thoughts down. I'm kind of training myself." Charlotte and Annabeth walked into the waiting elevator and Charlotte hit floor 28 with a neatly manicured nail. It clicked on the button and Annabeth resisted the childish urge to jump as the elevator took off to feel weightless for a second.

Once the elevator pulled to a stop, Charlotte led the way to her specific door. It opened into a entryway with a high ceiling and crystal chandelier. Annabeth watched Charlotte to gauge what to do next, and after Charlotte slid off her spotless tennis shoes to stand in her socks on the equally spotless and gleaming tile, Annabeth did the same. It seemed a bit odd to, because it was marble tile and could easily be cleaned, but she did as Charlotte did. The entryway led to a front room with expensive looking couches and decor. Charlotte didn't even pause and instead turned to the open kitchen next to it.

"Want anything to eat?" She asked.

"No thanks, I'm good." Annabeth replied.

Charlotte nodded and led Annabeth to a archway. After passing through it, the flooring turned into cream carpet.

"That first door is the bathroom, if you need it." Charlotte chose the third door and opened it. Citrusy perfume wafted out on a soft breeze of air conditioning and Annabeth followed Charlotte in.

The walls were pale blue, and the bedspread was white with smocking. The pillows were grey and mustard, and floral photography and world maps hung tastefully on the wall. Overall, it was a very elegant room. Charlotte threw her backpack onto the bed.

"Sweet, sweet air conditioning."

Annabeth was used to the heat and hadn't really noticed any difference, but she took a seat on the desk chair and leaned her backpack up against it neatly, acting like she was also relieved to be indoors. She sipped the dregs of her iced mocha and watched as Charlotte kicked over a yoga ball and sat on it, bouncing slightly. When Annabeth have her a questioning look, she giggled.

"It's good for my posture, and my mom always tells me that posture is what people notice first about a lady." She threw her shoulders back and stuck out her chest. "Does this please you mom?"

Annabeth laughed and noticed a bubbling sound. When she looked on the desk, she saw a large aquarium tank overflowing with greenery and a lot of fancy looking equipment.

"What's this?" She asked Charlotte. Charlotte stood and leaned over Annabeth to look at the tank.

"That's Beaumont, the love of my life, and actually how I met Percy." She pointed to a tiny little fish that was blue and white. It was only about the length of Annabeth's pinky and had long fins that swayed in the water. "I got him in freshman year and had him in just a little bowl, and I liked seeing him swim around, so I signed up for Marine biology as my elective for that year. Percy was my partner and I showed him a picture of Beaumont. Percy got all animal rights activist on me and told me off for having a fish in such a tiny place with no filter or heater. It totally surprised me. We did become friends though as he taught me about how to care for him."

"Yeah, that sounds like Percy. He really really likes fish for some reason." Annabeth smiled as she thought about it.

"I understand though, I adore fish too. Especially Beaumont. I taught him how to swim through a hoop, wanna see?" Charlotte grinned.

"No way. You trained a fish?!" Annabeth couldn't believe this girl. As Charlotte lowered a tiny little hoop on a string that looked an awful lot like a hoop earring into the water, Annabeth thought about Charlotte. Maybe if Annabeth weren't around, Charlotte and Percy would be a great match. Charlotte was kind of ditzy and absentminded to match Percy's cluelessness, they both loved fish, and the idea of them being the perfect sporty popular high school couple wasn't too hard to imagine.

The fish went through the hoop.

"That's just wild. How did you teach him how to do that?" Annabeth raised her eyebrows.

"I tied a treat to the hoop. He was pretty stubborn and wouldn't do it for a while, but I also have a stubborn streak and eventually got him to learn."

Stubborn. Just like Percy.

This girl seemed unfathomable. She was so easygoing to Annabeth, and bounced back easily even after the guy who would have been a great match with her turned out to be taken. Annabeth knew she'd be sad if she discovered Percy was taken when she finally got up the guts to kiss him. What had happened to Charlotte before to make her so used to loss and so able to hide her feelings?

"Anyway, before we pull out boring old math, I want to ask you something. There's a pool on the roof of this building, and I was planning on hosting a beginning of the year pool party ever since the first day. I've already passed out invitations and stuff, and it's tomorrow night, but if you aren't already busy, do you and Percy want to come? You can bring whoever else you want too so you aren't bored with all my friends and no one you know."

"Um, I'm free tomorrow and I'm pretty sure Percy is too. I'll check, but I think we can come." Annabeth looked up trying to recall her schedule.

"Great! I'll see you then, I guess!" Charlotte beamed.

 **Sorry about any missed typos, I wrote this on my phone and so I might have missed a few errors. Anyway, I'm actually from California and have visited San Francisco several times (My sister currently has a job there for the summer) so I'm pretty sure I represented Annabeth's home pretty well.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright! It's ten PM, I'm wearing a shirt that says 'I woke up like this', no pants, a pair of fuzzy socks, and a face mask. Just reapplied my chapstick, fed my sister's betta, took my antidepressant, and now I'm drinking water out of a mason jar while lying on my bed. Seems like as good a time as any to write.**

When the bell rang, Nova and Annabeth shot out of their seats. They took only moments to glance at each name on the papers littering their desk and slid them all over the table passing them to each other. They sat at the single round table in the back, meaning the teacher couldn't see them and they sat alone, so they treated the art class pretty much like a free period. Annabeth finished her math homework in art class pretty much every day.

Annabeth shoved her papers into her binder in a mess that she knew she would regret later when she couldn't find her science study guide, but she was starving and couldn't wait to get to lunch. She helped Nova get her papers together and they nearly ran out of the classroom together. The art room was in the 900s quad while Nova and Annabeth always met Percy and the others to eat in the 400s quad, so they went down, zig-zagging across the oddly shaped campus.

Nova only nearly fell once on the way to lunch. The girl was chronically clumsy, and not even in the cute way. She was always tripping over something somehow. Annabeth grabbed her elbow before Nova hit the ground, unfortunately Nova's binder was not saved and papers flew everywhere. They stooped to grab them. As Nova reached for the last paper on the floor, some assignment from German class, a masculine hand also reached for it. She pulled it away first and stood to see who had stopped to help. She made eye contact with a guy in a black beanie that was pulled low enough Annabeth could only see part of his eyebrows and a few locks of his reddish-brown hair.

"Thanks for helping, even if you were a little late to do much." Nova said to him. She could barely see his eyes peeking out from under his beanie.

"You're welcome. My name's Cameron." He said, in a low voice that was so quiet it was kind of hard to hear him.

"I'm Nova." Nova tilted her head slightly. It looked a bit like Cameron was having an internal debate, so she waited for him.

"I know. I have science with you." He said.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't recognize you." Nova clearly had no memory of ever meeting this guy before.

"That's okay, I don't talk much so people don't remember me." Oh man was this guy painfully awkward. "So, um, I'm going to go off campus for lunch, did you maybe want to join me?"

"Sorry, I was just heading to eat lunch with my boyfriend…" Nova apologized to this guy again for the second time in even fewer minutes.

"Oh, okay, maybe some other time…" He said. "Um, bye." He went for the front gate and Annabeth, who had been awkwardly standing to the side for the past few minutes, went to stand by Nova again.

"I don't think I've ever witnessed something as awkward as that ever before in my life." She said truthfully to Nova.

"Oh god, I know." She moaned slightly.

"I thought you and Kristina were a thing, anyway." Annabeth said as she and Nova began to walk again.

"We are, but I usually tell guys I have a boyfriend because I've had some take the news the girl they're flirting with is gay very, very badly." Nova shrugged. "Male entitlement and all that jazz, am I right?"

"Yikes." Annabeth replied, taking a sip from her water bottle.

"I know." Nova rolled her eyes, and they arrived at the 400s quad.

Annabeth slid into her seat next to Percy and gave him a quick kiss before unpacking her lunch. "Sorry we're late. Some dude tried to very awkwardly ask out Nova."

"I guess everyone just wants to steal my girl." Kristina laughed. "Little do they know she's about as straight as a rainbow."

"I don't exactly see a badge of straightness on you either Krissy. Anyway, Annabeth, you were saying in art that you wanted to talk to the group about something?" Nova poked Kristina in the side before climbing into her lap and leaning against her.

"Oh, right," Annabeth said. "Okay, so, I was walking home when Charlotte just like, appeared next to me out of thin air."

"Like, appeared?" Braden, the latino boy Annabeth had met yesterday morning asked.

"Shut up. Anyway, she took me to Starbucks and invited me to her house to do homework with her."

"That's kind of odd. We're not really friends with Charlotte. We know her, but we're not friends. Why did she take an interest in you?" Kristina said.

"Yeah, I thought so too." Annabeth shrugged. "Before we did homework, we just talked a bit and she said she was holding a rooftop pool party, and invited me. She said I could invite anyone else, too."

"That's really weird. Why invite you?"

"I have a theory. I mean, she was alone yesterday on the first day of school, when everyone's usually catching up with their friends. Do you guys know if she has a solid friend group or anything?" Annabeth posed the question to the general group.

"I guess not." Logan replied to her first. "I don't remember seeing her ever hang out with a certain group before. She's just sort of been a drifter." He shrugged. "We never really thought about it, though."

"Maybe she's just lonely and wanted a friend." Annabeth said.

"I don't know why she picked you as a potential friend; you don't act very friendly to strangers." Percy joked. "Anyway, I'm down for a rooftop pool party. Sounds like fun."

"Well, it also sounds like a place where the punch is spiked and irresponsible decisions are made, and for that reason, I guess I'm in too." Logan said.

"I'm going cause it looks like you guys are going, and I don't want to miss out on Logan making bad choices." Braden said. "It should be entertaining, at the least."

Nova and Kristina looked at each other. "Why not." Nova finally said. "We're in."

"I guess we'll be going to a pool party tonight then." Annabeth took a deep breath. "There's always something going on, isn't there?"

"As if life would ever give us a break." Percy said.

 **So, I haven't thought to ask you this, but do you guys think the chapter lengths are okay? I noticed they were only like two pages in Word and I wondered if I should be drawing them out somehow.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this is so late guys, I've just been laughing for the past 3 million years.**

 **Why?**

 **Some asshole dude just sent me a link to his "novel." I was written in looking exactly the same, except my name was changed to a close sound-alike. I was his shitty self-insert's girlfriend, complete with bad character development and tragic backstory. (Rape. It was rape. Like every other terrible backstory.) I was the competent assistant to a mad scientist until Main Character showed up and suddenly I was head over heels for this greasy white boy and totally helpless.**

 **Actually, while that did happen, (LMAO), it was just my depression acting up again.**

 **Anyway.**

Percy let out a low whistle when he and Annabeth got off the elevator onto the rooftop. Lights were strung up, and the pool was lit from within. Music blasted and people ambled around, socializing.  
"Yikes. She's seriously rich."

"Maybe we're in over our heads here Percy. Should we leave? She probably hasn't noticed we're here."

"Hey, being in over my head isn't a big deal, I'm a son of Poseidon." Percy grinned goofily.

"Very funny Percy." Annabeth was being sarcastic, but Percy being a dork did loosen her up a bit.

"Annabeth! Percy!" Charlotte hurried over. The pool water still coating her seeped slowly through Annabeth's thin cover up.

"Hey Charlotte." Annabeth said. "I like your swimsuit." Charlotte wore a flashy blue monokini with sequins.

"Thanks! I'd compliment yours if I could see it. Anyway, a quick update: there's two bowls of watermelon. Left has been soaked in vodka. Right has not. Pandering to the masses, you know? I'd advise you don't eat too much of anything, both because you don't want cramps while swimming and in case anything's been spiked. Good? Okay, I'd better greet the newcomers." She darted off.

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then headed for the bowl of watermelon on the right. Annabeth picked up a piece and discreetly sniffed it to double-check before eating. Percy was staring at dixie cups of Jello on the table.

"I don't think you'd agree and say it's safe to try and have one of those blue raspberry ones, would you?" He said.

Annabeth glanced at the violently blue jello. "Probably not. I bet they're jello shots."

Percy sighed. "That's what I was hoping you wouldn't say."

"Percy! Annabeth!" They both turned to see Percy's friends beckoning them from inside the pool.

Annabeth pulled off her coverup as she walked to the pool, turning to see Percy had yanked off his shirt as well. When they reached the poolside, Percy dove right in but Annabeth took her time easing in to get used to the temperature.

They chatted with Percy's friend and everyone around them for a bit until all the chattering around them began to feel like it was way too loud for Annabeth, and she wished for silence.

"Hey Perce, I'm gonna go to the restroom."

"Mkay, love you." He replied, cuing a chorus of _ooooooooooooooooh_ s from his guy friends. Annabeth pecked him on the cheek before getting out of the pool. She grabbed her towel, some random pink thing with orange flowers she got from Target because it was the first one she saw. As she left, she saw a girl with hair dyed gray take her spot next to Percy to listen to whatever story he was telling at the time.

Annabeth wandered into the house. After seeing the line for the bathroom and remembering how many drinks were out, she veered away. She found herself heading for Charlotte's room, mostly because it was the only room she knew.

When she entered, it was immaculate and lit only but the fishtank light. She stooped to look at the fish.

"Hey." Charlotte leaned against the doorway.

Annabeth spun. "Oh, hey Charlotte. Sorry I just walked in. I kinda needed a peaceful place to just take a breather."

"No problem. I understand. It's rare for anyone to be around the house, I understand getting used to silence. Parties do get a little jarring."

"Oh, that must... suck." Annabeth wasn't sure what to say. Poor girl, she had to be lonely all the time.

"It's no big deal." Charlotte shrugged and looked at her nails, repainted to match her swimsuit.

"I mean, my dad used to totally abandon me too-" Oh god why had Annabeth said that she just got so nervous and it just came out. "Oh- I- wait-"

"No, I know you feel sorry for me, and I don't appreciate it. I could tell since we first met. You looked at me funny, like I was kind of below you." Charlotte's blue eyes bored into Annabeth's. "I think you're really cool, but you don't understand. This is my life. I'm in charge. You can't treat me like a charity case."  
"I'm-" Annabeth was speechless. "I think maybe you'd better go." Charlotte said quietly.  
"Yeah." Annabeth was cowed. She turned and headed back out to the party. The buzz of people talking felt worse than before, too close, like it was closing in on her. She found Percy in the pool laughing with sthe grey haired girl. "Percy, we have to go." She said to him in a low voice after crouching down.  
Percy heard the undertone of anxiety in her voice and immediately hopped out of the pool. "Sorry, I have to go." He apologized the the girl in the pool.  
Annabeth grabbed her bag and held Percy's hand as they left. As Annabeth pressed the button for the elevator, she looked to the side. Charlotte stood there, looking sad. She blinked a couple times quickly before walking off with her head held high, and Annabeth bit her lip hard. When the elevator arrived, it was empty. She and Percy stepped in. The walls and ceiling were mirrored, and Annabeth saw herself reflected in them dozens of times over. Her eyes felt hot and a lump appeared in her throat. None of the tears ever spilled over, but she turned and threw her arms around Percy. She exhaled in sharp, stuttering cries and inhaled in quick gasps.  
"What happened?" Percy muttered into her hair, wrapping his arms around Annabeth.  
"Oh gods Perce, I messed up." She said.


End file.
